Famous person Will Smith is apparently having the time of his life despite going from everyone’s favorite movie star to everyone’s least favorite man who slaps on live TV, at least according to Bad Boys 4 co-star John Salley.
Salley appeared on the interview show VladTV, and while he covered a number of topics, the most salient seems to be about Smith and his propensity to have a good time regardless of how people feel about him. Must be nice. DJ “Vladimir Lyubovny” Vlad asked the actor what it was like to film with Smith in the movie.
“I got to spend time with my friend Will Smith,” he said. “And I got to say, I’m happy for Will.”
“Did he slap anyone on set?” Vlad asked.
“No,” Salley said, laughing. “After Will did his smack, Will got to travel. Will got to step outside of all of this stuff. When he [got back] he said it was the best rest he’s ever gotten. Best time he got to sit back and look at things.”
Salley said Smith gave him a book called Awareness and it “changed my way of thinking too. When you start realizing everything that happens, it’s like the butterfly effect. Everything ripples down to something else. And it was [Smith] having to get out of it.”
The actor said he looks at things in terms of the slap sometimes. “It seemed like he didn’t want to do it but he was already committed. because he was leaning back like he was fighting something.” Sounds like someone really likes being friends with Will Smith, because I’m not sure that’s how Chris Rock would see it.
Speaking of Rock, Salley said he felt “really bad” for him. Rock’s anger in his stand up special was “understandable,” he said.
Vlad brought up how “it’s one thing to be assaulted, it’s another thing to be assaulted on the international television on the biggest stage in the world.”
Will apologized, but it’s never going to be totally fixed, Salley said, “unless Chris can slap him back, and that’s not going to happen. … It’s like killing somebody who killed somebody. You’re not going to bring either soul back. It’s done and we have to move on from here.”
Regardless, Salley said Rock did an “unbelievable job of keeping his composure and being humble.” Salley also thinks if there was no slap, Smith would have gotten another award for Emancipation, which bombed. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to go pick up the award, because he’s banned from the Oscars.
Smith can’t even be nominated, Sally said, because he’s out of the Academy. While Hollywood may be ready to forgive and forget, it’s harder for other people to do so. The bottom line is Smith assaulted another man on live TV and then got an Oscar and blamed “the devil” for his actions while crying. Take some responsibility, you pompous blowhard.
Smith went on vacation? He self-reflected? You know if anyone else did that, they’d do jail time. It’s hard for me to get past that. The image of Smith dancing with his Oscar after the slap is burned into public consciousness. Will Bad Boys 4 still be a hit? Probably. But how funny would it be if it wasn’t?